Hole In My Heart
by Hatakefire
Summary: Before the world ended, Daryl had a wife and a son. He meets them for the briefest of moments before they are torn away like everthing else in this world. Read to find out how. One-Shot, Rated T for zombies


**This idea came to me awhile ago and wouldn't leave. I am going to post this but if you guys like it enough I will write different versions but the same plotline….Let me know and hope you enjoy!**

It was a few months after the farm. The group had grown close, and more skilled at surviving the zombie apocalypse.

At the moment they were driving down an abandoned street of an abandoned town with little walkers. Daryl was in front, as was decided from last night.

_Last Night_

"_Hey, I know this place," Daryl pointed at a spot on the map the group was looking over._

"_Yeah, this is the place I used to live. Merle moved out when I was about fifteen, and I was able to leave three years later. Merle and I moved back after our old man died to take the house," Daryl explained._

"_There anything good there?" Rick asked._

"_It's kind of a small town. Wouldn't be too many walkers. They have a daycare, a school, stores. We could at least rest there a night," Daryl suggested._

"_Sounds good. We'll head out there tomorrow."_

And so here they were. What Daryl didn't tell the group was his ulterior motive for coming here. He had not moved here with just Merle, but with his new wife Cassandra, who was pregnant with his child.

They had lived well, with Daryl getting a job as a maintenance man and Merle not drinking too much and mostly staying out of their way.

Daryl and Merle had often gone hunting – on one such day walkers attacked the town. It was completely overrun when Merle and Daryl got there, and he knew that his family, (His son was four and a half by then) was either dead or gone.

He had tried to go after them anyway, but Merle refused, knocked some sense into Daryl's head, and they had left, eventually finding the group in Atlanta.

Daryl suddenly noticed something that made him freeze. He raised his hand to stop the line of cars and hopped off his bike, running to what had caught his eye.

It was a small teddy-bear; brown and fluffy, with some parts sewn on. His son had taken this to the daycare the day the world went to hell. Against his will he felt tears well in his eyes. If it was out here, then that meant his boy had escaped the daycare. From what he could tell, he had been trying to make it home, before … before.

Daryl shut his eyes tightly, grinding his teeth, trying to keep his emotions back. It had happened nearly a year ago, he should have accepted it already. But somehow seeing a bit of proof hurt even more, because somewhere in his mind he had hoped that Cassandra and his son had gotten out.

"Daryl, everything alright?" Rick called from the window.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Daryl responded, walking back to his motorcycle. He was about to put the bear into his saddlebag when screaming suddenly started a street down.

He began running in that direction, ignoring Rick's shouting to come back.

"HELP! HEL – " The voice cut off into a gurgle. Daryl rounded the corner, automatically aiming for the zombie holding the young woman, who's throat had just been half torn out. Two other walkers had neared and he shot those down with his remaining arrows.

He ran to the slumped woman, turning her over. And his heart froze.

It was Cassandra. Her beautiful, curly blonde locks had been cut short and were covered in blood and grime, but it was her. The love of his life was dying in his arms, and he hadn't seen her in months.

"D-daryl…?" She croaked, struggling for breath.

"Shh, shh, it's okay. I'm here," He soothed, fighting back tears again.

"Are you …dead?"

"No, no I'm alive. And so are you. Hang on Cassie," He whispered.

"I'm not …gonna…. Make …. Dare, I-i….I love… you…." She murmured. Her hand reached to cup his face, and he held it there. She was so cold already …

"I love you too Cassie. Don't go, please don't go," He begged, so absorbed in this moment he did not notice the rest of the group approach quietly.

Instead he watched as the light faded out of her eyes, and the hand on his face went limp.

"No … no Cassie! Cassie come back! CASSIE!" He yelled, but she didn't move. He let go of her hand, pulling her into his lap, crying quietly. He hugged her close with his strong arms, refusing to believe she was gone.

And it seemed she wasn't.

A twitch. That was it. Then she groaned, slowly moving. Then thrashing, trying to eat him. He held tight, refusing to let her turn. She was growling, doing her best to kill him. He still had one arrow. If someone was going to end it, he would.

Shoving what was once the most precious thing in life to him away, he reached for his crossbow, aimed for the head, and fired.

She fell to the ground in front of him, bleeding. He stayed kneeling, and then stroked her hair once. Quietly he got up, ignoring the people watching him. He found a tarp, and went to drag it to his wife.

But again, something caught his eye. It was still human, but had been shot in the head before it turned. He looked closer and noticed it was a small boy. And not just any boy. _His _boy.

Was fate so cruel? He dropped the tarp and walked closer. Sure enough, it was Jamie. James Leo Dixon. His son … dead.

"No …" He dropped to his knees once more. His wife and his son … could he have found them just to see them die? And he had been so close! His wife was still alive, if he had been quicker, just maybe, he could have saved her AND Jamie. Oh god, he was dead … his family was, without a doubt, _dead. _

He gently picked up Jamie and carried him to Cassandra. Then he took the tarp and covered them both, shutting his eyes tightly. Everything was moving so fast. It was like when you are going downstairs and you miss a step – your heart skips a beat and you feel like falling. But the feeling never stopped. It stayed, growing worse as the words in his head grew louder.

_Dead. Dead. Dead! DEAD! __**DEAD! **_**DEAD! **They were directed toward his family, the two lights in his life that had been filled with so much darkness before. And they were gone. And it was his fault.

His knees gave way and he kneeled by their covered heads, his own head bowed in grief.

"Daryl, we need to move," Rick muttered. He didn't know who these people were, but they obviously meant something to Daryl. Maybe family friends or something.

"I AIN'T LEAVNG 'EM!" Daryl suddenly shouted, glaring at Rick. "You ain't gonna take me away from them. Not again. Not like Merle did," Daryl whispered, suppressing a sob.

"Look, they would want you to live. You need to move, now," Glenn urged.

"Come on," Carol added gently, touching a head to his shoulder. Daryl paused, a tortured expression on his face, before nodding and slowly rising to his feet. The group breathed a collective sigh of relief, before following Maggie to a small shop with boarded windows. It would do for now.

There was silence as Carl handed around some beef jerky, which everyone began to eat ravenously. All except Daryl, who just shook his head when he was offered a piece and stared at the door, as though hoping Cassie and Jamie would come in laughing about how he had fallen for their joke.

"Who were they?" Carol murmured quietly, settling down next to Daryl, close enough their legs brushed. Daryl didn't flinch from the contact as he usually did, instead staring off into space.

The rest of the group glanced over, trying to pretend like they weren't interested. (And failing miserably).

"Cassandra Marie Dixon," Daryl finally said after a long silence, "and James Lee Dixon." Daryl swallowed before continuing.

"Cassie was the love of my life. We met at a bar and I fought off some guys trying to get her to come with them. She was drunk so I drove her to my house. Merle wasn't home, I didn't care why. I let her sleep on my bed and I slept on the couch. Next thing I knew I had a knife at my throat and she was screaming at me." Daryl chuckled slightly at the memory.

"I told her to shut up and let me explain. Once I was done she sat on the couch next to me. When I asked what she was doing she simply replied, 'This is a comfortable couch, and you did kidnap me. You owe me.' We got married three years later," He smirked.

"Then she was pregnant with Jamie, and then he was born and everything just seemed great. Merle mostly stayed out of our hair, and I was able to get a job. Then the world ended, and that was it," Daryl sighed sadly. "Jamie was only four and a half," Daryl added.

Silence followed, and then Daryl coughed awkwardly. "It doesn't matter anyway," He grumbled.

"Of course it matters!" Carol snapped, startling the group slightly. "Our past is all we have now," She added quietly.

"No, what matters is each other. We're here for you Daryl," Rick corrected. Glenn grasped his shoulder in companionship, and the others gave him a nod. Daryl nodded back. The hole in his heart still ached, but maybe, just maybe, these people could help him heal it.

**Did you like it? Please review to let me know! If you want more oneshots give me ideas. If you hated it, give me advice to make it better and I'll post a revised addition. Thank you for reading, DARYL IS A BOSS!**


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